\1 



»y 1 II I «.N^ . -I . ,— — — 

CARROTS, 

Mangold Wurtzels 

AND 

SUGAR BEETS. 



HOW TO RAISE THEM, HOW TO KEEP THEM 
AND HOW TO FEED THEM. 



By JAMES J. H. GREGORY, 

AUTHOR OF "onion RAISING," "CABBAGE RAISING," &C. 



MARBLEHEAD, MASS : 

N.ALLEN LINDSEY & CO. 

1877. 



CABBAGES : 

HOW TO RAISE THEM 

I^RICE 30 OTS., BY MAIL. 



SQUASHES : 

HOW TO GROW THEM 



Each of these treatises are amply illustrated, 
and give full particulars on every point 
including keeping and market- 
ing the crops. 



CARROTS 



Mangold Wurtzels 



SUGAR BEETS. 



HOW TO RAISE THEM, HOW TO KEEP THEM 
AND HOW TO FEED THEM. 



By JAMES J. H. GREGORY, 

AUTHOR OF "ONTON RAISING," "CABBAGE RAISING," &C. 



MARBLEHEAD, MASS : 

N. ALLEN LINDSEY & CO. 

1877. 







Entered according to Act of Congress, m the year 1877, by 

JAMES J. H. GREGOKY, 

At the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



r 

•3 



C^E^IE^OTS, 



THE ARGUMENT FOR THE R.\ISING OF ROOTS. 

The fact that the most progressive and successful farmers 
in the dairy districts, where the prices received for the pro- 
ducts of the dairy stimulates to the highest enterprise, are 
raisers of roots, (by which I now more especially refer to 
Carrots or Mangold Wurtzel) in about the same degree as 
they are pecuniarily successful, is in itself a great practical 
argument for root culture. 

In nutritious value roots compare with hay in about the 
average proportion of one to three. If now we consider 
that thirty-four tons of Swedes, nearly forty tons of Carrots 
and seventy-four tons of Mangold roots have been raised in 
Massachusetts, to the acre, and that to each of these crops 
should be added at least 1 5 per cent, for the fodder value of 
the yield of leaves, which were not included in these esti- 
mates, we have a demonstration of how immensely more is 
the nourishment that can be obtained from an acre of root j 
than from an acre in hay. Such an immense increase- 
in the nourishing products of the farm, if fed on the pre- 
mises as it should be, unless the farmer is so located that 
he can buy manure cheaper than he can make it, means a 
great increase in the manure products, and consequently a 



4 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

great increase in the crops, — so that it has been wisely said, 
root culture lies at the basis of good husbandry. 

Carrots and Mangolds are subject to but few diseases. 
In discussing the nutritious value, chemists differ somewhat,, 
according as they measure this by the nitrogen they contain,, 
their per cent, of dry matter or sugar, but they agree 
in ranking them much superior to the early varieties 
of turnip and somewhat superior to the Ruta Baga or 
Swede class, particularly when fed to full grown cattle. Prof. 
Johnson ranks Carrots with Cabbage when fed to oxen, for 
nourishment, and experiments appear to have proved that 
when equal measures of each are fed. Mangolds will give a 
greater increase of milk than potatoes, by about a third. For 
some reason not fully understood, (perhaps the depth they 
penetrate the soil has something to do with it ;) Onions will 
do better after Carrots than after any other crop, the yield 
being larger, the bulb handsomer, while the crop will bottom 
down eariier and better. Unlike Turnips or Swedes, with 
high manuring the crop can be profitably grown for years on 
the same piece of land. Swine prefer Mangolds to any root 
except the parsnip, and both in this country and in England 
store hogs, weighing from 125 lbs. and upwards have been 
carried through the winter in fine condition, when fed whol- 
ly on raw Sugar Beets or Mangolds. Chemists rank Carrots, 
when compared with oats, with reference to their fat and 
flesh forming qualities as i to 5. 

Not only have roots a value in themselves as food, but 
they have a special office, taking to a large degree the place 
of grass and preventing the constipation that dry feed some- 
times causes. While practice proves that they should not 
be relied upon to entirely supersede hay or grain, still they 
increase the value of either of these to a large degree ; and 
for slow working stock they may be fed with profit in place 
of from a third to half the grain usually given. Carrots add 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 5 

not only to the richness of the color, but also to the qual- 
ity of the milk, while the flavor of the butter made from such 
milk is improved. Carrots fed in moderate quantities to 
horses give additional gloss to their hairy coats, and have not 
only a medicinal value when given to such as have been 
over-grained, but aid them in digesting grain, as may be seen 
in the dung of horses fed on oats with Carrots, and that 
of those fed on oats without Carrots. ' When cooked they are 
sometimes fed to poultry, and either cooked or raw to swine. 
In the family economy they have their place, particularly 
when young and fresh, while in Europe they enter largely 
into the composition of the well-known vegetable soups of 
the French. 

THE CARROT. 

"The Carrot," (^Datccus Caroia) says Burr in his "Field 
and Garden Vegetables of America," a book worthy a place 
in every farmer's library, — "in its cultivated state is a half- 
hardy biennial. It is indigenous to some parts of Great Brit- 
ian, generally growing in chalky or sandy soil, and to some 
extent has become naturalized in this country ; being found 
in gravelly pastures and mowing fields, and occasionally by 
roadsides, in loose places, where the surface has been dis- 
turbed or removed. In its native state the root is small, 
slender and fibrous or woody, of no value, and even of 
questionable properties as an article of food." 

The average result of several analyses of the Carrot as 
given by Dr. Voelcker, is as follows : — 
Water, - - - - - - 87.0 

Albuminous Compounds, - - - - .7 

Fat, - - . - - - .2 

Pectinc, - - - - - - 1.2 



5 CARROTS; MANGOLDS, AND SUGAR BEETS. 

Cellular Fiber, - - - - - 3.5 

Sugar, - - - - - - 6.5 

Ash, - - - _ - _ .p, 

THE LOCATION AND SOIL. 

It is important in selecting a location for the Carrot bed 
that the land should be nearly level, as otherwise the seed 
will be liable to wash out after heavy showers, and the plants; 
while young be either washed out or covered with soil and 
killed. The land should be clear of all large rocks, and as far 
as possible of all stones up to the size of a hen's egg. The 
presence of large rocks 'in place,* as the geologists say, would 
interfere with the continuity of the rows, while the loose 
stones are not only always in the way while raking and plant- 
ing the bed, but are also in the way of the slide or wheel hoes 
which are apt to knock them against the young plants to 
their injury. It is important that the piece of ground select- 
ed for a crop that will require so much manure and labor 
should have every advantage possible in its favor ; it should 
not only be level and comparatively free from stones, but if 
possible should have been previously under high cultivation, 
that it may come to Carrots when in high condition. 

The best soil, particularly for the Long Orange variety,, 
is a loam mellow to the depth of two feet or more. On such 
soil the Carrot will perfect itself, growing straight and alto- 
gether beautiful to look upon, as they stretch from side to 
side of the bushel boxes. On some market gardens near 
critical markets, farmers find it for their interest to ascertain 
by actual experiment on what part of their grounds the root 
will grow longest and straightest, and when such plot is found 
make it a permanent bed. If the soil does not naturally 
grow a long carrot and they are desired, the end may be at- 
tained by trenching deep and adding sand. The difference 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. / 

in the shape of the Long Orange, when grown on a deep 
mellow loam, and on a heavy soil with a compact sub-soil, is 
so remarkable that it would be almost impossible to make an 
inexperienced person believe each lot was from the same 
seed, — those grown on the heavy soil, resting on a com- 
pact sub-soil, oftentimes so closely resembhng the Inter- 
mediate varieties as not to be distinguished from them. 
Though the course is not on the whole to be advised, yet 
Carrots can be raised on freshly turned sod. Such land will 
be very free from weeds, and by making good use of the 
wheel harrow, and applying manure in a very fine state, 
should the season be a moist one, fair crops may be raised. 
Reclaimed meadows in a good state of cultivation, which 
are well-drained to the depth of thirty inches, will oftentimes 
grow crops, large in bulk, but the individual roots are often- 
times inclined to ''sprangle,'* and unless such meadows 
have been well drained, and liberally covered with sand or 
gravelly loam, they are apt to be spongy and inferior. When 
grown on land inclining to clay, they are apt to be small and 
woody in structure ; still, such land, if made friable by good 
underdraining and the application of sand may be made 
fair carrot ground. 

THE MANURE AND ITS APPLICATION. 

All root crops delight in most liberal manuring and the 
highest of cultivation. Carrots are no exception to this rule. 
With every crop, other conditions being equal, // is the last 
half of the mamire gives the profits; and the more costly the 
cultivation required the more important it is that this golden 
fact be borne in mind. Though chemical analysis shows dif- 
ference in the composition of all roots, and that there is 
therefore an office for special manures, yet their general 
composition is so nearly alike, and animal manures, most of 



8 ' CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR EEETS. 

which contain in greater or less proportion, all the elements 
required, are so difficult to handle in just the proportions that 
would be required from the chemical standpoint, particularly 
when we consider that soils on which root crops are grown 
are usually rich in manures, varying in their chemical constit- 
uents, left over from former crops ; — for this reason I treat of 
manure by the cord and with reference to its comparative 
strength, bulk for bulk, rather than of its chemical elements. 
Eight cords of good stable manure, nine cords of a com- 
post made of one part night soil to two parts muck or loam ; 
twelve cords of a compost made of one-third fish waste, by 
w^hich I mean the heads and back-bones of the fisheries, and 
two-thirds soil ; eight cords of muscle mud ; six or eight 
cords of rotten kelp — either of these appKed to an acre of 
land in good condition by previous high cultivation would 
be sufficient tor a good crop of carrots. Other manures 
might be mentioned, but these will serve as a pretty good 
measure of value for any kind accessible to farmers in gener- 
al. To produce a very large crop such as one would like to be 
able to point to when premium crops are called for, add from 
one quarter to one-half to the above quantities. The condi- 
tion of the manure is a matter of importance ; the stable ma- 
nure should be good ; not half bedding, not burnt, neither 
too coarse nor too new ; the night soil should have been well 
mixed with the soil in the compost heap, and have been pitched 
over twice with sufficient intervals between to allow it to devel- 
op some heat. The fish waste should be well decomposed, 
so well that all but the bones should have disappeared, and if 
these be very dark and brittle so much the better. The mus- 
cle mud should be rich in dead muscles. In all farming it 
is important that the manures appHed should be in a fine con- 
dition mechanically, and particularly is this true of root crops. 
For the roots of all plants can take up only such parts of the 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 9 

manure as are dissolved in water, and the finer the manure 
h the more readily can water penetrate it. 

A man who is unfoj^tunaiely shori of 7nanures can 77iate~ 
rially increase the capacity of what he has by working it over 
until it is very fine. 

When short of a supply of animal manure, guano and 
good phosphates, where the soil is already in good condition 
can be used with success, provided the season does not prove 
to be too dry a one. From eight hundred to a thousand 
pounds of Peruvian guano and from ten to fifteen hundred 
pounds of the best phosphates should be used. The fa- 
mous fertilizer formulas of Prof. Stockbridge have generally 
done so well I should be willing to try them on an acre of 
Carrots, were I short of other manures. 

There is another matter concerning our manures which 
requires attention ; if they are too fresh or crude they will be 
apt, if applied to our long growing varieties, to drive the 
growth too much into the top of the Carrot, to the loss of the 
root, giving us tops to our knees with roots about the size of 
a hoe handle. It is important therefore, when used liber- 
ally, that they should be somewhat decomposed — that the 
mixtures should be composts, as far as the time will allow, and 
not mere mixtures. To the shorter varieties the crude ma- 
nure may be applied with a degree of safety. Here let me 
note a fact that I think is of general appHcation in farming, 
viz. : — that a style of manuring that will drive tall growing 
varieties of vegetable nearly all to tops or vine, with dwarf 
varieties of the same kind will work admirably. The Pea is 
a very good illustration ; to get a good crop of Dwarf Tom 
Thumb, manure liberally, but the same quantity applied to 
the taller sorts would drive them excessively into vine at 
the expense of the crop. 

Don't make your compost heap on the ground where 
the crop is to grow, for the result will be no crop where the 



lO CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

heap stands. For the same reason it is bad policy to cart out 
any strong manure to stand on the land in heaps, no matter 
how small, over winter. There will be nothing lost by spread- 
ing the manure over the surface before the ground is frozen. 
In getting it into the soil, keep ii as near the smj'ace as possi- 
ble without its interfering with the planting of the seed, bear- 
ing in mind the nitrogen, that element in manures, about the 
loss of which by evaporation there is much uncalled for anxi- 
ety tends to work down into the soil. If the manure is coarse 
it may be applied to the surface in the Fall and be deeply 
ploughed in, and in the Spring again brought to the sur- 
face by ploughing equally deep, having meanwhile received 
the benefits of frost and moisture. 

In applying guano or the phosphates, keep them near 
the surface, scattering them broadcast and raking or harrow- 
ing in. It is best not to apply either of these all at once, — 
particularly is this true of guano. Apply about half at the 
time of sowing, and the remainder when the crop is about 
one-third grown — following it with the shde hoe, which will 
tend to work it in just under the surface. In applying guano 
and all similar fine manures in the Spring time, it is well to 
do so early in the day, as winds are apt to rise as the day ad- 
vances, which seriously interfere with the economical appli- 
cation and even distribution. Both phosphates and guano 
tend to hasten the maturity of the crops to which they are 
appHed. There is one condition that has a very important 
bearing on the cost of Carrots and all .roots, viz. : — that 
both the ground and manure should be as free from all weed 
seed as possible. For this reason ground recently from the 
sod, the third year, provided it has been kept under a high 
state of cultivation, and such manures which from their very 
nature must be comparatively free from the seed of weeds,, 
such as fish composts, night soil, or barn manure a year old, 
are to be Dreferred. 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. It 

Dr. Voelcker gives the result of lo analyses of the 
ashes of the root and 2 of the ashes of the leaves of the 
Carrot, and from these deduces the following as the num- 
ber of pounds of mineral matter taken from an acre of land,, 
by 10 tons of roots and 4 tons of tops. 

Potash, Soda, Lime, Phosphoric Acid, 

116 lbs 86 lbs. loi lbs. 31 lbs. 

Sulphuric Acid, Chlorine, 

34 lbs. 31 lbs. 

To those who desire to experiment with mineral manures- 
this table will be interesting as showing the kinds and propor- 
tion of each needed. The potash is found in unleeched ashes, 
at the rate of 4 or 5 pounds to the bushel ; or in the German 
Potash salts ; the soda and chlorine in common salt, (chlo- 
ride of sodium) ; lime in the common lime of the mason,, 
the Phosphoric acid in the phosphates offered in the markets,, 
and the Sulphuric acid in that directly or in common finely 
ground plaster, known by chemists as Sulphate of Lime. 

I shall have occasion to present some very valuable sug- 
gestions of the learned Professor, under the head of "The- 
Manure" in my article on Mangolds, to which they more es- 
pecially apply. 

The greatest single item in the cost of any crop is-, 
the manure, but this is an exceedingly varying element. 
Farmers near cities, and particularly if they also reside 
near the sea-coast, as an off-set for the greater cost of farm- 
ing-land and expenses of living, have the advantages of a city 
market and special facilities for collecting manures, at a cost: 
to them, much below the standard value of stable manure. 
Night soil to almost an unlimited extent, can be obtained for 
the cost of collecting it, while the waste material of the fish- 
eries, Kelp, Rock Weed, Muscle Mud, Glue Waste, Sugar 
House Waste, and the products of the distilleries, these and 



12 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

Other rich fertilizers can be procured at so low a figure, in 
proportion to their value, that root crops can be raised con- 
siderably cheaper than in farming districts not so favored. 
Many a man can be found in these favored districts who 
thinks he is making a good business at farming, yet could he 
but sell the manure he gathers so cheaply, at its market value, 
barn manure being the standard, he would make money by 
doing so and folding his arms the rest of the year. The fact is 
he is really losing money at farming ; but through his crops 
he is selHng what cost him but a trifle, at a price, indeed, 
below its real value, but still so far in advance of cost as to 
leave a profit. Such a man does wisely in the course he 
pursues though he makes a mistake in the debtor and cred- 
itor side of the account, for it is most decidedly wiser to be 
at work than idle, though the result makes no difference in 
the dollars in a man's pocket. 

PREPARING THE BED. 

The great object here should be to get the soil thorough- 
ly fine that the small, thread-like fibers, and the roots them- 
selves, may waste the least possible vital power in permeating 
the earth in search of food, or in pushing downwards. The 
vitality wasted in this way is just so much taken from growth, 
and may make the sole difference between a good crop and 
a poor one« If it is necessary that the first ploughing should 
be a very deep one, better apply the manure, (as previously 
stated, the finer mechanical condition this is in the better) 
afterwards. Should the manure be to any degree coarse after 
spreading, run the brush or wheel harrow over it, one or 
both. This will also break up the clods and fine up the soil 
and incorporate the manure with it. If still at all lumpy, fol- 
low with a plank drag. Next plow shallow a few furrows, and 
-have men, with wooden-toothed hand rakes, rake at right an- 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 1 3; 

gles, pulling all coarse stones and lumps of earth and manure 
into the last furrow made. In brief, proceed to make as fine 
a seed bed as for onions. 

If any one, depending on the apparent fineness of the 
surface, concludes to dispense with the final raking and let 
the work of the brush harrow answer, he will be apt to re- 
pent it before the season closes ; should he try it let him be 
sure to double the quantity of seed planted in that portion 
of the land so treated. If the bed has its first ploughing 
early in the season, much of the weed seed will germinate 
before planting time and an occasional use of the cultivator 
will destroy many of the pests. 

WHEN TO PLANT. 

Some of our best farmers advocate planting about the 
middle of May, others equally successful in root culture 
claim that the middle of June is the best time. There are 
arguments for both early and late planting. In New Eng- 
land we usually have the weather sufficiently moist towards 
the close of May to insure the germination of the seed and 
protect the plants when they break ground, from "sun-scald." 
Those planted as late as the middle of June are more liable 
to be so affected by the dry weather usual at that period as 
not to vegetate as well ; and should the heat be very great 
just after they push through the ground, sometimes in a sin- 
gle day nearly the entire crop will disappear by "sun-scald." 
But on the other hand, by planting late we about get rid of 
one weeding, assuming that the ground is stirred by the cul- 
tivator occasionally, up to the time of planting. Again, this 
brings the crop in full vigor in October, the month of all 
others most favorable for the growth of the root, and the 
Carrots being dug while the tops are in fair growing condi- 
tion, keep better than when dug fully ripe. The argument. 



:I4 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

for late planting holds especially good for the Short Horn va- 
rieties, as these require a shorter time to mature than the long 
kinds. If the crop is planted too early, sometimes the roots 
having matured, will attempt to push seed shoots ; when this 
is so they will be found woody in their structure, with num- 
berless thread-like roots v/hile their quality and keeping pro- 
perties are greatly injured. This crop on rich land is some- 
limes planted as late as the first week in July, and with great 
.success, should the Fall prove exceptionably mild, yet, as a 
rule, I would not recommend planting later than the mid- 
dle of June. If it so happens, from press of work, or the 
dry weather, the farmer has to plant later than this, then by 
all means let him confine himself to the earlier varieties. 

THE SEED AND THE PLANTING OF IT. 

To grow seed, medium-sized roots should be selected^ 
that are well-grown, straight and symmetrical, of a rich, dark 
orange color, with a small, compact top. Plant in rows three 
and a half feet apart and fifteen inches in the row, the 
crowns being on a level with the surface. If the roots are 
long they may be laid slanting in the furrows. The best seed 
will be from the two first cuttings, which will come from the 
center of the main stock and of each side shoot. 

The seed grows with a covering of small, short, stiff hairs, 
which makes them adhere together ; these must be very thor- 
'Oughly removed before the seed can be rehed upon to flow 
freely from the machine. Much of foreign grown seed reache ; 
this country not properly cleaned. To remove this furze, 
•either thrash the seed with the flail very thoroughly, when th3 
weather is quite cold and dry, or warm the seed slightly and 
rub it with the hand against the wires of a sieve, of a right 
degree of fineness to let the hairs fall through. Either win- 
now, or sink in water, to remove all impurities. If sunk, be 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 1 5 

careful to dry the seed at a very moderate temperature ; rub- 
bing with plaster, charcoal or earth dust will absorb what mois- 
ture may remain when nearly dry. As Carrot seed vegetates 
somewhat slowly and the plants are quite small when they 
first appear, weeds are apt to get the start of them before the 
rows can be seen with sufficient distinctness to make it safe 
to use the sUde hoe. For this reason many farmers practice 
soaking the seed in water and keeping it at a temperature 
that will nearly develop the sprout, before planting. This 
may be done by soaking the seed from ^6 to 48 hours in 
milk warm, rather strong manure water, then removing it to 
where the air is of about the same temperature. Stir it slight- 
ly for a few days, and finally dry it sufficiently to drop freely 
from the machine by adding plaster, charcoal or dust. Cam- 
phor has a wonderful effect in stimulating the vitality of seed, 
and the addition of a small quantity of it to the manure 
water would doubtless be of advantage. This process should 
not be carried so far as to develop the sprout. Should the 
surface of the ground be very dry when the seed is sown, 
this soaking process may be fatal, for if the germ is once 
started it will not live in a dormant state ; it must either 
grow or die : whereas, seed that have not been soaked will 
vegetate after rains wet the dry surface. Be sure that the 
seed planter has a good roller attached to it, and not a 
mere coverer, as this will help confine the moisture and thus 
materially aid in developing the seed. 

QUANTITY TO THE ACRE. 

Tables vary greatly, some advising as high as four pounds 
to the acre. If the design is to raise small-sized roots for 
early marketing, possibly this might not be an excess of seed, 
but to advise so heavy seeding for ordinary field crops, means 
that much of the seed is poor trash, probably old and worth- 
less, and put in as a make-weight. 



1 6 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

Some years ago a party wrote me, ofTfering a variety of 
garden seed at a very low figure, and stated that it was of his 
own raising. As it was a kind that I was in the habit of rais- 
ing, I had the curiosity to write and ask how he could afford 
to raise it at such a price. He replied that it was of his own 
growing, but so old as to be good for nothing, and therefore 
he sold it to seedsmen at a very low figure, to mix with their 
good seed to help make weight! When four pounds of Carrot 
seed are advised to the acre, for a field crop, I think that some 
of this kind of seed must somehow have got into the mixture. 
With everything favoring, and the farmer by experience having 
his seed sower under perfect control, rather less than a pound 
of seed will be sufficient for an acre. The great object to 
aim at is, while having the plants thick enough, not to have 
much of any thinning to do, as it costs about as much to thin 
a crop as it does to weed it, with the drawback that the plants 
left in the ground are more or less started, and so put back 
by the thinning. As a general rule I would advise one and 
one-half pounds of seed to the acre, and this the farmer can 
reduce in proportion as he is favored by circumstances and 
advances in experience. 

Twelve inches is a sufficient distance between the rows 
of the two small, early varieties, and fifteen between the rows 
of all other sorts. With the greatest of care the seed will 
not come up with mathematical precision. Some advacate 
leaving a plant to about every inch of row ; others, to thin to 
four inches apart. Carrots are somewhat like Onions in their 
aptitude to grow to a good size when crowded, pushing out 
either side of the rows, and at times crops will give great 
bulk when the plants are nearer each other than four inches, 
still, as a rule I advise thinning to near this distance, leaving 
them thicker near vacant places. 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 1 7 

VARIETIES, AND WHAT KINDS TO GROW. 

Foreign catalogues give lists of about two dozen varie- 
ties, which differ in earliness, size, color, form, termination of 
root, characteristic of growing entirely under or partly above 
ground, and in the size of the core or heart. In foreign cat- 
alogues, what we call "Orange," are known as "Red" Car- 
rots. From a test of these varieties I have thus far found 
nothing worthy of being added to the kinds already grown to 
a greater or less extent in the United States. The yellow- 
fleshed sorts are repudiated in New England by general con- 
sent ; yet the Yellow Belgian, on a limited trial has proved 
with me, to be an exceptionably good keeper. The Purple 
or Blood-Red is of a deep purple color, a poor cropper and 
by no means attractive to the eye. The remaining varieties 
may be classed as follows :• — Early, middling early and late. 
The first class is made up of the Early Very Short Scarlet^ 
and the Early Scarlet Horn. The second class, of all the 
half-long or short horn varieties, and the third, of the long 
varieties, such as Long Orange, Belgian and Altringham 
sorts. 

In addition to about one-half of these foreign varieties, 
cultivated more or less generally in this country, there are 
several kinds catalogued by seedsmen, all of which are but 
improved strains made by careful selections, through a series 
of years, from what was originally imported stock. These 
strains usually bear the name of some person. A brief dis- 
cussion of the more valuable varieties will now be in order. 
Here I will lay down three general facts, viz. : — ist, that of 
the various orange colored varieties, the shorter growing kinds 
are, as a rule, the darker colored and sweeter flavored. 2d, 
that the proportion of dark, orange-colored roots in any 
crop, while it will depend largely on the care that has been 
used in the selection of seed stock for a series of years, does 



18 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

not turn wholly on this, but soil, season or manure, one or all 
have some influence in this direction. 3d, that the fact that 
more or less of the Carrots tend to push seed shoots the first 
year, while with the long varieties it may prove that the seed 
has been allowed to mix with the wild varieties, yet the prob- 
abihty, (marked cases excepted,) is decidedly the other 
way ; while with the short horn varieties this tendency to 
push seed shoots the first season, so as to make something 
of a show when an acre is glanced over, is quite a common 
characteristic with seed of the very purest strain. 




EARLY VERY 
SHORT SCARLET. 



EARLY SHORT 
SCARLET. 



SHORT HORN. 



LONG ORANGE. 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 1 9 

Early Very Short Scarlet, (see engraving.) 
Early Short Scarlet Horn, (see engraving.) These 
two varieties are the shortest grown and are raised at times 
in forcing beds, for an early market, the former very gener- 
ally so. They are of a very rich orange color, fine-grained, 
sweet, and of excellent flavor, heading the list for quality. 
Their rich color makes them valuable above all other kinds 
for coloring butter. Though quite short, yet the Early Short 
Scarlet Horn can be grown to yield a great bulk ot roots, from 
the fact that from the smallness of their tops the roots can be 
grown very thick, two or three abreast all along the rows. 
When the small, handy size of this variety is considered in 
connection with the superior quality, it stands foremost as a 
table Carrot, and I therefore recommend it in preference to 
all others for family use. 

Short Horn. (See engraving.) This variety, interme- 
diate between the Early Forcing and Long Orange, with but 
slight variations in form, is shown under various names, as 
Intermediate, Nantes, Half Long, James' Improved, Stump- 
Rooted, &c. It is characterized by a darker color than the 
average of the Long Orange, finer grain, and a sweeter and 
richer flavor. In part from the more solid structure of the 
Carrot, and in part from its better stowage, thirty-six meas- 
ured bushels of this variety make a ton, while of the larger 
varieties forty bushels are required. The best strain of this 
variety is doubtless the kind known as the "Danvers" Carrot. 

DanYers Carrot. In the town of Danvers, Mass., 
the raising of Carrots on an extensive scale, has for years 
been quite a business — the farmers finding a large market 
in the neighboring cities of Salem, Lynn and Boston. After 
years of experimenting they settled upon a variety which orig- 
inated among them (as did the Danvers Onion) known in 
theii locality as the "Danvers Carrot." It is in lorm about 



20 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



midway between the Long Orange and Short Horn class^ 
growing very generally with a stump root. The great problem 
in Carrot growing is to get the greatest bulk with the smallest 
length of root, and this is what the Danvers growers have 
attained in their Carrot. Under their cultivation they raise 
from twenty to forty tons to the acre. This Carrot is of a 
rich, dark orange in color, very smooth and handsome, and 
from its length, is easier to dig than the Long Orange. It is 
a first-class Carrot for any soil. 

Long Orange, or Long Surry, This is a standard 

variety, and in its various strains is doubtless more generally 
grown than any other kind. The chief objection to it is the 
depth to which it penetrates the ground, and hence the extra 




^^^ 
d^^ 




DANVERS CARROT ALTRINGHAM. IMPROVED LONG ORANGE 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



work of digging it ; while the end of the root which causes 
the extra work is of inferior quaUty when compared with 
^he body, differing in this respect from the shorter varieties, 
which are of the same quality 
throughout. The heart is larger in 
proportion than in the shorter vari- 
eties, which is considered an objec- 
tion. The keeping properties are 
excellent, and in this respect it is 
superior to the earlier kinds. On 
light soil the roots grow long, straight 
and make a fine show in the market. 
Altringham. This is a Carrot of 
excellent quality for the table, the 
flesh being of a rich orange color, 
crisp and sweet, but as a cropper it 
is inferior to the Intermediate or 
Long Orange varieties, and hence is 
but little cultivated. 

Large White Belgian. This is 
the largest of all varieties and will 
yield at least a quarter more than 
any other sort. The roots grow sev- 
eral inches out of ground, and all 
can be readily pulled by the hand. 
Analysis shows that it is nearly as 
sweet as the Mangold Wurtzel, rather 
sweeter than the Swede Turnip, and 
about two thirds as sweet as the Su- 
gar Beet. The two objections to it 
ILARGE WHITE BELGIAN are its color and its keeping -proper- 
ties ; it being rather a poor keeper, while the color has 
made it a carrot for horses rather than cows. ^ If farmers 
have but a small quantity of manure, the White Belgian is 
;a good variety for them to raise for feeding early in the winter. 



22 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

THE CULTIVATION, AND THE IMPLEMENTS 
NEEDED. 

Just as soon as the young plants can be detected break- 
ing ground, the prudent farmer will push the slide hoe, and 
have his boy weeders follow immediately after it on hands 
and knees. Boys that have had a Httle experience, with their 
nimble fingers can do more work than men, while their wages 
are only about half as much. On the sea-coast we hire boys 
who make a business of weeding, for from seventy-five cents 
to a dollar a day. The one great danger in hiring boys, is that 
careless ones are apt to break off the weeds instead of pull- 
ing them up by the roots. To ascertain their comparative 
faithfulness, it is well to quietly mark a few rows of the diff- 
erent weeders, at their first weeding, and by the time for the 
second weeding the difference between a good and a bad 
boy will be very plainly visible. 

Don't accept that theory of the shiftless man, that it is 
well to have the weeds grow pretty tall before the first weed- 
ing, that the plants may be protected from the sun. I have 
noticed that oftentimes those who act on this theory give 
over their weeding, and plough up the bed before they have 
half finished it. Promptness in the first hoeing and weed- 
ing is exceedingly important in the management of all root 
crops, and it is where the great mistake is apt to be made in 
their cultivation. 

There are a few implements that are specially needed in 
the cultiva- 
tion of root 
crops, and of 
these every 
wise farmer 

will get the SLIDE HOE. 




CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



23 



very best attainable. These implements are the Seed Sower, 
the Hand Weeder, the Slide Hoe, the common Wheel Hoe, 
and one for weeding both sides of a row at the same time. Of 
these there are a great many varieties, each of which are more 
or less popular among a class of growers. The engravings 
illustrate such as are in use in my own section of country, 
where root culture forms a very important part of the agri- 
culture of farmers. Both the slide and the wheel hoe, for 
rapid work, far surpass the common hand hoe, while they 
cut up the 
weeds equally 
clear. The 
wheel hoe is 
used until the 
tops of the 
crops become 
so large as to 

be in the way, wheel lice 

when the slide hoe takes its place. Each 
inches narrower than the space between 
slide hoe is an amazing handy implement about a farm for 
many uses other than between the rows of root crops. A 
new class of inplements lave been introduced within a few 
years which, to a degree, supersede the use of the common 

wheel or slide hoe, 
f.iough there is yet a 
valuable sphere for 
each of them ; I refer 
to the weedcrs which 
cut each side of the 
GOODWIN'S WHEEL HOE. row at the same time 

I have tested everyvariety of these and have thus far found 
none dp such good, practical w^ork as the homeliest look- 
ing one of them all, viz. : the Goodwin wheel hoe. These 




should be two 
the rows. A 




24 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 




hoes which take each side of the row at once cannot safely 
be made to go over the ground as fast as those designed for 
use between the rows, but working close home to the grow- 
ing crop, they save a large portion of the cost of hard weed- 
ing. Of seed drills 
there are a dozen or 
more in the market, 
several of which I have 
used on my f^rms. I 
prefer Matthew's over 
all others. Among 
other advantages it 
can be relied upon to Matthews seed sower. 

drop almost any variety of small seed, while it is a good cov- 
.erer, and havi-ng a roller attached, it packs the earth over 

the seed, which, as 
every farmer knows, 
tends to keep the 
moisture in and thus 
NOYES' WEEDER hastcus their germi- 

nation. The hand weeder is an excellent little implement 
to facilitate the laborious work of weeding, especially when 
the surface is baked and therefore rather hard on the fingers. 

GATHERING AND STORING THE CROP. 

One of the greatest outlays attending the raising of Car- 
rots is in the gathering and topping of the crop. The com- 
mon process of digging with a fork and throwing into piles to 
be afterwards topped is laborious and costly. The labor and 
consequent cost may be greatly lessened by first cutting off 
the tops by a sharp shovel, spade or common hoe, or a slide 
hoe which has been weighted by a piece of lead pipe, or 
some similar heavy article, slid down the handle and fastened 
where that unites with the hoe. Should a slice be taken off 




CARROTS, MANGOLDS AXD SUGAR BEETS. 25 

the tops of the roots it will do no harm, as Carrots differ in 
this respect from other roots, in that, when the tops are cut 
they are not apt to rot ; indeed, some practice cutting off 
a shoe of the root when topping, to keep them from sprout- 
ing so readily when stored. 

Let the crop remain out as late as it can be risked with- 
out freezing; and it they are in good growing condition 
this will be well towards November, in the latitude of cen- 
tral New j^ England, and even into the first week of that 
month in the milder temperature of the sea-coast. Roots 
not fully matured will keep better than those fully ripe when 
dug, on the principle that the varieties of apples we call "win- 
ter" apples are simply those kinds that do not ripen on the 
tree, — they are not winter apples^ because they are Baldwins, 
or Greenings, for these same kinds in the South where the 
ripening season is longer, are Fall apples. If the carrots have 
been planted too early they will ripen before digging and be 
apt to prove poor keepers, besides losing the advantage of 
October weather which is the carrot month, doing more for 
the weight of the late planted crop than all the season be- 
sides. 

Rake the tops off the bed but do not waste them for 
they are highly relished by animals, and if the carrots are 
harvested when they ought to be, to keep well, that is, when 
in good growing condition, there will be a great weight of 
tops, sometimes as high as a quarter of the weight of roots ; 
and this mass of green fodder, coming at a time when the 
fields are usually bare of grasses, will prove very valuable and 
acceptable food for the cows. The common way of gather- 
ing the crop, by loosening with spades or forks and then 
pulHng out by the tops, throwing into heaps or scattering 
over the ground and afterwards topping with a knife, is a 
long and costly job. An improvement on digging is to run 
a plough close to the row and then pull out as many as pos- 



2 6 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

sible by hand and dig up the remainder. Still a better course 
particularly when the Danvers variety is grown, is, beginning 
in the middle of the piece, to run a subsoil plough close 
home to the roots, when, if run sufficiently deep it will lift 
the carrots a little out of the ground. Follow with forks or 
hoes, and draw the roots inward on the ploughed portion, so 
far as to give room for the horse to walk. Let the roots re- 
main a few hours scattered over the surface, when in picking 
up and tossing them into carts or baskets, any earth adhering 
will be jarred off. In storing, one fact must be borne in 
mind ; that carrots will heat, sprout and rot, under circum- 
stances in which Mangolds would keep sound and uninjured. 
I have several times lost quantities when buried in the ground 
where Mangolds and common table Beets, under precisely 
the same conditions, have kept perfectly sound. If the crop 
is to be fed at once, they may be dumped into the cellar or 
bam floor in the most expeditious way without reference to 
the depth of the heap ; but if to be fed into the winter, then 
aU depth of the heap above two and a half to three feet 
means a proportionate increase of danger of heating, sprout- 
ing and rotting, and so much greater care to air the cellar in 
cool, dry weather. I need hardly state that cellars for keep- 
ing carrots and all roots should be free from standing water, 
and as cool as possible without actually freezing. If the 
bottom is damp, then put down a rough flooring. When the 
roots are large they will keep sufficiently better to pay for the 
extra trouble, if they are piled ''heads and points" to the 
height of two and a half feet, with a slight space for air be- 
tween the piles. If there are not cellar conveniences for 
storing the entire crop, with a good protection of hay under 
and around them, a few tons may be stored, for early feeding, 
in the barn, provided it is a warm one. 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 2/ 

RAISING CARROTS WITH ONIONS. 

I transfer from my Treatise on Onions, a paragraph rel- 
ative to growing carrots with onions. 

The plan of raising carrots with onions is considered a 
great improvement by many who have adopted it, as the yield 
of carrots is thought to be clear gain, diminishing but little or 
none the yield of onions. Carrots are planted in two ways ; 
one by sowing them in drills between every other row of 
onions, and the other, which is considered an improvement, 
called the Long Island plan, by planting the onions in hills 
from seven to eight inches from center to center, dropping a 
number of seed in each hill, and from the first to the twelfth 
of June planting the carrot seed, usually by hand, between 
these hills in two rows, then skipping one, and thus on 
through the piece. The onions, as they are pulled are thrown 
into every third row, the carrots being left to mature. By 
this method from 'two to six hundred bushels of carrots are 
raised per acre in addition to the usual crop of onions. More 
manure is required lor the two crops than for the onions 
alone. 

The machine used for sowing in drills has two boxes at- 
tached to the axle at equi-distance from the wheels ; there 
are three or four holes in the axle that communicate with the 
seed in the boxes, and as these holes pass under the boxes 
they are filled with seed, and as they turn the seed are drop- 
ped into the earth. Screws are sunk into the holes, which 
can be sunk more or less at pleasure, and the quantity of seed 
which the holes will contain is thus graded. 

The machine should first be tested and so regulated that 
on a barn floor it will drop from eleven to twelve seed from 
each hole. When so regulated, on using in the field it will 
drop but from seven to twelve, owiwg to the more uneven mo- 
tion. 



2 8 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

MARKETING AND FEEDING. 

In the cities there is a large, market for carrots as feed 
for horses, it being very generally, accepted that a few given 
daily or every other day, aids the digestion of grain-fed ani- 
mals, adds to the gloss of the hair, and are of special medic- 
inal value. The largest, smoothest and darkest orange col- 
ored roots sell the best in the market. The price varies all 
the way from ten to twenty dollars a ton of 2000 pounds, de- 
pending in part on the value of hay. Where the quantity fed 
daily is small a large knife or a shovel will answer to cut them 
up in pieces of suitable size ; but if the quantity amounts to 
■several bushels daily, then a root-cutter will be needed. 
There are two classes of these, one for sheep, and the other 
for large stock, the essential difference being that those de- 
signed to cut roots for sheep cut into smaller pieces. Of 
those designed to cut roots for large stock, the Whittemore 
machine is as good a machine as any, having a capacity to 
cut up a bushel in about half ^ minute. Among farmers 
there is much unnecessary fear a^bout the danger of animals 
choking while feeding on apples, potatoes and roots. For 
the last ten years I have fed to my cows not far from three 
hundred tons of squashes, potatoes and roots, ( mostly 
:squashes) and never yet lost an animal or had any very seri- 
ous trouble from choking. My habit is to feed them while 
quietly in their stalls, with a division board between the feed 
of each. All cases of choking that have come to my notice 
have occurred whe?'e the a?iimal was suddenly distui'bea 
while eating. There is a great difference of opinion as to 
how many roots can be fed to stock daily without injuring 
them. The proportion will depend somewhat on the consti- 
tutional peculiarities of individual cows, but when the bowels 
are all right the appetite of the animal is probably the safest 
guide. I have had a large and extended experience in feed- 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 29. 

ing squashes to milch cows, — the Boston Marrow, Hubbard 
and other varieties ; beginning with half a bushel to each 
animal, I increase the quantity until the daily consumption 
has averaged a hundred pounds a day to each. Under 
such heavy feeding, after a while their appetites clog some- 
what, but I am inclined to the opinion that, beginning with a 
moderate feed, they would soon readily eat seventy-five 
pounds daily with a reUsh, for as long a period as they migLt 
last. When feeding Carrots or any roots, the most economi" 
cal method is to give meadow or salt hay, with a small quan- 
tity of flax-seed or cotton-seed meal. The effect of the roots, 
and these rich meals is to give to these inferior varieties 
of hay, the nutritious value of the best upland English. 



)ffi^ 



What is a Mangold Wurtzel ? A number of years ago 
I raised a piece of Early Turnip Beet seed in a very isolated 
location ; there was not another piece of Beet seed growing 
t>vithin half a mile, at the least. A good deal of the seed 
wasted, as is usual when the seed is allowed to ripen well on 
ihe stock before cutting. From this waste seed thousands of 
young plants sprang up, many of which survived the winter, 
by the help of the protection of chickweed and snow. They 
had got so far along when ploughing time came, I left the 
piece unploughed, thinning them out that they might pro- 
duce early beets. As the season advanced a good many of 
them pushed seed shoots and ripened a crop of seed. Some 
of the seed I gathered and the next season planted it to see 
what it would produce. The crop was "everything ;" all the 
way from a nice, dark colored Early Turnip Beet, through 
different sizes, colors and forms, up to a light-fleshed Man- 
gold Wurtzel. As the original Beets were a very pure Turnip 
Beet, and during several years of careful cultivation for seed 
purposes had shown no admixture with any other variety, the 
experiment proved either that the coarse variety of Stock 
Beet, which we call Mangold Wurtzel are but sports from 
our fine-grained table Beets, or that the Beet class are 
sports from Mangolds, — most probably the former. 



CARROTS. M.ANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



31 



Mangold Wurtzels differ from table Beets in their gen- 
eral coarseness of structure, and the larger size to which they 
grow, the elements which enter into the composition of each 
being the same in kind. I have grown an ordinary Turnip 
Beet to weigh twenty-three pounds, and of the size of a half 
bushel measure. At times, on rich, friable soil, the Long 
Blood Beet will attain to large proportions, but when led by 
such results to attempt to get equal weight with Mangolds, 
under first-rate conditions, the experiment, with me, has uni- 
formly failed. Still, when quality is wanted, in the fattening 
of hogs for instance, I am not certain but that the food ob- 
tained from an acre of the large variety of table Beets, may 
not be more than that obtained from an equal acre in 
Mangolds. 

What is a Sugar Beet? The term ''Sugar Beet" is an un- 
fortunate one, as the word "Sugar" had already been appro- 
priated to express the sweet flavor of the varieties of Beets 
raised for table use, while the word Beet is strictly a misno- 
mer, the vegetable Sugar Beet being in reahty a Mangold 
A\''urtzel. A generation ago our fathers used the term "Sugar" 
as a familiar designation for any sweet variety of beet raised 
for table use, and at the present by the great majority of the 
public the term is still so used. As the new industry of man- 
ufacturing sugar from the beet grew on the continent of Eu- 
rope, seedsmen were called upon to supply for commerce 
seed of the best variety for this purpose. It was necessary 
that this variety should be as free as possible from all coloring 
substance as this would, as a matter of course, give a stain to 
the juice, and impose on the manufacturer the labor of puri- 
fying it. The ones at first selected were the long, white 
Mangold Wurtzels, and these were called the "Sugar" Beet 
in commercial parlance. These white Mangolds were not 
entirely white, the portion that grew above ground being us- 
ually colored a light green by exposure to the sun's rays ; it 



32 CARROTS, MANG0LD3 AND SUGAR BEETS. 

became therefore an object for the manufacturer to still im- 
prove on them to the end that all the coloring should be 
eliminated. The intelligence and enterprise of the seedsmen 
of Europe responded to tliis want, and in the course of a. 
few years two prominent varieties were produced, that have 
nearly completely satisfied it, — one of these was sent out by 
the estimable house of Vilmorin Andrieux & Co., of Paris,, 
and is named "Vilmorin's New Improved White," and the 
other "White Imperial Extra," by the distinguished German 
house of Ernest Senary. 

These improved Sugar Beets of commerce grow nearly 
entirely under ground, and when gro.vn these beets define 
themselves to be the Mangold variety, by the coarser struc- 
ture of the root, the stouter ribs and the greater coarseness, 
of the leaves, which spring in larger masses directly from the 
crown, than is the case with beets for the table. 

The moral of all this for my farmer friends is, that if you 
want a beet for table use do not order "Sugar Beet" or you 
will be very likely to find a Mangold growing in your garden,, 
a return, but not a recompense for the sweat and toil of the 
husbandman. 

VARIETIES. 

About twenty varieties are catalogued by seedsmen,, 
many of which are but strains of the same kind, bearing the 
name of the grower, who by careful cultivation has endeav- 
ored to improve it. Classified by form they come under 
three classes, viz. : — the long, the round and the ovoid or 
intermediate varieties. Classified by color we have the red 
or scarlet, the pink, the yellow or orange, and the white 
varieties. 

The Long Yarieties. — Among the more prominent 
of these are the Ox Horn, the common Lonsf Red, Sutton's 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



33 



Imperial, Norbiton Giant, Long Egyptian, Carter's Improved^ 

the Long Yellow, and the Siles- 
ian varieties of Sugar Beet. The 
Ox Horn is a very crooked grow- • 
ing variety, as its name would 
imply, with a small diameter in 
proportion to its great length. 
Growing almost wholly out of 
ground it curves about so in 
the row as to be decidedly in 
the way, is apt to break when 
pulled and in addition to these 
defects, storing very badly, it is 
not in any way desirable. The 
Norbiton Giant, Carter's Mam- 
moth Long Red, Sutton's Impe- 
rial, and Long Elvethan are im- 
provements over the common 
Long Red in a greater uniform- 
ity in their habit of growth, their 
size, and a less liability to grow 
hollow at the top at the ad- 
vanced stage of growth. 

Th3 Round Varieties.— In 

these are included the common 
Red and Yellow Globe, with 
some of the mider-ground vari- 
eties of the Sugar Beet. 

Ovoid are either red or yel- 
LONG RED. MANGOLD. low in color and are intermediate 
in form between the long and the round kinds. 

What Kinds to Grow,— In this country the Long 
Red are the most popular, particularly ihe Norbiton Giant 



:^ 



^. 



b 



34 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS, 



variety. While 
travelling in Eng- 
land, Ireland and 
France, for inquiry 
and observation, I 
found that the 
round and ovoid 
varieties were more 
generally cultivat- 
ed than the long 
sorts. In my ex- 
perience the ovoid 
varieties incline 
to grow smooth- 
er than the long 
kinds and hence 
are likely to bring 
up less earth with 
them, which on 
heavy soil is a 
matter of so m e 
moment. I think of the two kinds the yellow, under the 
same circumstances, makes the larger root. The long va- 
rieties pile better in the cellar, while the round or ovoids cut 
up rather more readily, appear less incHned to rot at the top, 
and are firmer fleshed. The globe and ovoid varieties ap- 
pear to be best adapted to hard and shallow soils, and of 
these the Yellow Globe and Ovoid are especially valuable, 
as they are better keepers than most sorts and remain sound, 
without sprouting, until late into the spring, and with special 
care may be kept even into the summer season. 

The long Silesian varieties of Sugar Beet vary from 
each other only in the color of the part exposed above 
ground, — being green, grey or red. The kind intro- 




OVOID MANGOLD. 



CARROTS, M.\NGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 35 

duced to the American public a few years ago, under 
the name of Lane's Improved American Sugar Beet, is a 
strain of the Long White Mangold. The improved varieties 
of Germany and France yield about double the per centage 
of sugar that is found in the common Mangold, in some 
crops the proportion 
being as high as thir- 
teen per cent. This 
would make the Sugar 
Beets of double the 
value of Mangolds for 
stock, but unfortu- 
nately, the roots un- 
der like conditions of 
cultivation, average 
but half the weight of 
Mangolds. 

As this treatise is 
about roots as food for 
stock, the cultivation 
of beet for the manu- 
facture of sugar is not globe mangold. 
within its sphere, yet I must express surprise that with the 
experience of Germany and France to draw from and our 
own inventive skill and enterprise to add to it, we have not 
as yet made marked advance in this department of manu- 
facturing industry. The average percentage of sugar found 
in analysis of beets grown in this country is exceptionably 
high. Land free from alkalies, of unbounded fertility, readily 
accessible, being attainable at almost nominal cost, it is a 
standing puzzle why we do not follow the example of other 
countries and raise our own sugar rather than import it. Per- 
haps the conundmm will be solved yet by some associate 
enterprise among our farmers, similar to that which gave 




36 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

birth to our cheese factory system ; the inducement in this 
case being the home market that the sugar factory would af- 
ford for unlimited areas of beets, while the refuse pulp would 
enable them to increase greatly the number of their neat 
stock, to the advantage of the manure pile and enlargement 
of their area of tillage. 

THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. 

In the matter of soil, Mangold Wurtzels will accept a 
greater latitude than any other root ; thriving on every va- 
riety, all the way from light loam to muck, and from that to 
as strong a clay as is sufficiently friable for tillage. Muck 
(properly drained) and a strong loam are best suited to de- 
velop pounds of crop. Though the crop grown in the light- 
er soil is not so great, it is much sweeter than when grown 
on heavy soil, and when extraordinary quantities of manure 
have been applied, some of the heaviest crops on record have 
been grown on light loam. The great crop of Mr. Fearing 
of Hingham, of over sixty tons to the acre, was raised on a 
sandy loam. Some years ago I took a purchaser into the 
field where two lots of Mangolds were growing ; he selected 
at once the large roots on the low land. I asked him to 
taste a slice of those on the upland, when he at once changed 
his preference. As a rule it will be found that those grown 
on warm, upland soil are decidedly the sweeter and this fact 
has an important bearing on the feeding value of the crop. 

If the soil is in good heart for a foot in depth, plough it 
to that depth before putting on the manure. After putting 
on the manure, if coarse, it will be well to cut it up with 
Randall's wheel-harrow before ploughing under. After cross 
ploughing the manure four or five inches beneath the surface 
the aim should be to make a good seed bed by getting the 
surface level and the soil light and fine. On most soils this 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 37 

can be accomplished by a liberal use of the wheel-harrow 
followed by a fine-toothed smoothing harrow and that by a 
plank drag. An old barn door will sometimes answer for 
this, but as it is an excellent implement on the farm it will be 
well to have one. It should be about three feet wide and 
six long, with one side about ten inches high, meeting the 
bottom at an angle of forty -five degrees ; the planks had 
better overlap slightly, as they will the better break the lumps 
of earth. The team is to be hitched to Ihe turned up side, 
and the driver is to stand on the drag, driving it sideways 
over the land. The effect of such a drag in breaking up 
lumps and generally pulverizing the soil, will be found to be 
much superior to that of any roller. Should the soil be ot 
such a character or in such a condition that the harrow and 
drag process will not make a good seed bed, there remains 
no resource other than to prepare it as for onions, by raking 
over the entire surface. 

THE MANURE AND ITS APPLICATION. 

The kind and quantities of food needed to grow any 
vegetable is found by an analysis of that vegetable. Having 
thus learned the kind and quantity needed for any crop, the 
next step of the wise faraier will be to ascertain what ma- 
nures contain the necessary constituents and which of these 
contain them in the cheapest form. A little knowledge of 
Chemistry, in its application to manures, is of incalculable val- 
ue to the husbandman and no amount of experience and tra- 
ditionary knowledge can serve as a substitute for it. I believe 
that it is in this direction that the great advance in agricul- 
ture will be made, and were there no other argument for 
Agricultural colleges the fact that they are prepared to give 
thorough instruction in this one department would be a suf- 
ficient reason for their existence, and for their liberal patron- 



58 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



age by their several states. Prof. Voelcker, an excellent au 
thority in everything that pertains to chemistry, in its appli 
cation to agriculture, gives the following table as the average 
composition of the ash of the principal root crops. 



AVERAGE COMPOSITION 


OF THE ASH OF 


ROOTS. 








1 




;3 


.2 
I 


."S S 
"y, i-i 








•J 
CO 





Turnips. 


38 


49.8 


7.8 


II. 7 


2.6 


0.9 


10.3 


11.8 


1.2 


5-0 


Swedes. 


7 


3S.9 


14.0 


12.8 


4.2 


0.8 


10.4 


13-7 


1.9 


4.2 


Mangolds. 


12 


46.6 


18.4 


5-9 


4.8 


0.8 


8-3 


3-7 


4.0 


9.9 


Sugar Beet. 


40 


48.0 


10.4 


6.4 


9-5 


I.O 


14.4 


4-7 


3-8 


2-3 


Carrots, 


10 


37-0 


20.7 


10.9 


5-2 


I.O 


II. 2 


6.9 


2.0 


4.9 


Parsnips. 


4 


46.7 


2.7 


15-7 


6.0 


1-3 


15-8 


5.6 


2.4 


4-0 








LEAF 


ASH. 












Turnips. 


37 


.7.6 


5-1 


33-2 


2.6 


2.0 


7-3 


13.1 


3-5 


1-1 


.Swedes. 


3 


21.9 


12.3 


30.2 


3-2 


2.0 


6.4 


10.6 


4.8 


II. <j 


Mangolds. 


4 


25-5 


23-3 


10.4 


9-7 


1.2 


5-4 


7.2 


3-3 


17.3 


Sugar Beet. 


7 


21.9 


16.6 


I9-S 


18.1 


1.3 


7-3 


7-9 


3.1 


5-7 


Carrots. 


7 


17.6 


18.2 


32.1 


3-9 


3-0 


3-8 


8.2 


5-2 


8.9 



This table shows us that the Mangolds require the min- 
ora! ingredients of manure in the following order, when ar- 
ranged with reference to their importance : — Potash, Soda, 
Chlorine, Lime, Phosphoric Acid, Magnesia, Sulphuric Acid, 
Silica. In addition to these minerals other substances enter 
into the composition of Mangolds, the most important of 
which is Nitrogen. Barn-yard manure contains about all the 
elements needed by vegetation, but not always in the right 
proportion, therefore, when applying it, it is always profita- 
ble to know the^ proportions of the minerals which enter into 
crops that the deficiency may be supplied from other sources. 
It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that unleached wood 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 39 

ashes and the German Potash Salts, Sulphate and Muriate, 
are the cheapest sources for Potash at present known, while 
Soda and Chlorine are most cheaply obtained from the 
waste salt of the fisheries. Of this I shall have more 
to say presently when treating of salt as an auxiliary fertili- 
zer. Lime is most cheaply obtained from the common Car- 
bonate of Lime of the mason, either water or air slacked, 
and this usually contains more or less of Magnesia. The 
great source of Phosphoric Acid is the bones of animals or 
coprolites, by which is meant the fossilized bones and dung 
of extinct animals ; Sulphuric Acid is most cheaply obtained 
from Plaster, which is Sulphate of Lime. 

Some hold great benefit is derived by the crop 
of the following year, from ploughing under the leaves 
as soon as the roots are topped ; the value of this is just 
what the analyses of our table shows. The large crops 
reported as raised in this country, have been raised on soil 
ranging from light to a friable clay loam and have received 
all the way from eight to fifteen cords of barn-yard manure 
to the acre. In some instances this has been all ploughed 
in ; in others half spread broadcast and ploughed in and the 
other half put in the furrows. When coarse and unferment- 
ed I would advise a deep ploughing of it under, in the Fall 
As with Carrots, other waste substances can be used as sub- 
stitutes for barn-yard manure, care being taken, eithei that 
such waste substances are specially rich in Potash, Soda and 
Chlorine, or that these substances be added. The equiva- 
lents given are roughly estimated under the article treating 
of the manure for Carrots and will be sufficient for practical 
purposes ; I therefore make no further allusions to these 
cheap wastes as sources for manure, further than to mention 
that sea manures are specially rich in potash and soda. 

Of all roots Mangolds are the rankest feeders, removing 
more plant food from the soil than any other root crop. The 



4o CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

crop of Mr. Albert Fearing, of Hingham, Mass., was sixty 
tons of roots, and if the tops were in the usual proportion, 
of about one-third, they weighed twenty tons more, giv- 
ing the enormous yield of eighty tons of green food from 
one acre of ground. The crop raised on Deer Island, in 
Boston harbor, was about seventy tons to the acre ; with a 
like proportion of tops the total yield must have been over 
a hundred tons. In the sewage farms of England eighty 
tons of roots have been raised on an acre of ground. Fear- 
ing applied fifteen cords of manure to his acre of ground ; of 
the quantity applied to the Deer Island crop I regret I have 
not the data at hand. 

If the mere bulk alone was to be aimed at in the crop, 
the problem would be a very simple one, but there are three 
points to be considered : first, how to get a crop that shall 
be great in bulk and at the same time give us the second de- 
sirable point, viz. : ripeness, and thus insure the third desira- 
ble point, viz. : the highest percentage of sugar it is possible 
for the roots to aajuire. 

This matter of the value of Mangolds, for feeding pur- 
poses, being in about the same proportion as the sugar pre- 
sent, though appertaining to that part of this Treatise which 
treats of "Feeding to Stock," yet has so direct a bearing on 
the manuring of the crops that I will take it up at this place. 
The recent researches of that distinguished chemist, Prof. 
Voelcker of England, than whom there is no better authori- 
ty, has thrown much light on the question of manure in its 
application to this crop. The Professor takes the position 
that the nutritious value of roots is in proportion to the 
amount of dry matter in them, and that the percentage of 
sugar present coincides with that of dry matter, the propor- 
tion of sugar rising or falling with the percentage of dry mat- 
ter in the roots. That the feeding value does not depend 
on the proportion of nitro,2:en they contain, is proved theoret- 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 4I 

ically, by the fact that the percentage is very much higher in 
the early stages of growth, before the crop is matured, than 
it is later in the season, while in the experiments of Mr. 
Lavves in feeding sheep, the lot containing the most nitrogen 
in the way of nutrition gave the poorest results. 

Assuming with Prof. Voelcker that bulk should not be 
sought at a disproportionate sacrifice of sugar in the crop, 
and that certain soils and certain manures and certain 
methods of cultivation are more favorable than others to the 
development of this desirable proportion. I present extracts 
from his valuable article on ''Root Crops as affected by Soil 
and Manures." 

"Land highly manured with rich dung from the fattening 
boxes or stables, induces luxurious and vigorous gro.vth in 
root crops, and, as is well known, has a tendency to develop 
over-luxuriance in the tops. This is the case more particu- 
larly if the dung is derived from fattening beasts, liberally 
supplied with oil-cake and artificial food, rich in nitrogen- 
ous constituents. If the Autumn turns out fairly dry and 
warm, the roots in highly manured land continue to grow 
vigorously, the bulbs swell to a large dimension, and if the' 
weather in Spptember and October continues warm and dry, 
a heavy weight, and fairly ripe roots, result from the liberal 
use of rich dung. But should the Autumn be cold and wet, 
too liberal an apphcation of good, well-rotten dung is apt to 
maintain the luxuriant tops in a vigorous, active-growing 
condition, at a period of the year when the crop has to be 
taken up, and the result is an immature root crop, of a low 
feeding value. Although the bulbs may be of a good size, 
they turn out, when grown under such conditions, watery, de- 
ficient in sugar, and not nearly as nutritious as they would 
have been had a more moderate dressing of dung been put 
upon the land. The main cause of the immature condition 
and low-feeding quality of Mangolds grown with an excess- 



42 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

ive quantity of rich dung is the comparatively large amount 
of ammonial and nitrogenous constituents in the dung ; for 
numerous field experiments have shown that the peculiar ten- 
dency of ammonia salts, and of readily available nitrogenous 
substances is to induce luxuriant leaf-development and vig- 
orous and prolonged growth, which results frequently in a 
more or less immature condition of the roots. There is thus 
danger of over-manuring crops ; and the desire to produce 
heavy crops of Mangolds not unfrequently leads practical 
men not to appreciate sufficiently this danger. It is quite 
true Mangolds are very greedy feeders, and no doubt some 
soils will swallow up almost any amount of dung ; but at the 
same time it has to be borne in mind that all land is not 
alike, and that there are many naturally rich clay loams con- 
taining immense stores of plant food, which requires only to 
be brought into play by good cultivation in order to become 
available to plants. I am much inclined to think that it is a 
mistake to manure soils of the latter description too liberally 
with dung, even for Mangolds, and that in many cases a 
more economical result, and certainly a better quality of 
Mangolds, although not so heavy a crop, would be given, if, 
instead of all the enormous dressings of dung which are 
often applied to that crop, the land were manured in Autumn 
with only half the quantity of dung, and the seed drilled in 
with three to four cwt. of superphosphate or dissolved bones, 
which manures, as we shall see presently have a tendency to 
produce early maturity in roots. We frequently hear of 
complaints that Mangolds scour, or do not keep well. Com- 
plaints of this kind are only the expressions in other words 
for the immature condition of the roots, and in many cases 
the cause of this undesirable condition has to be sought in 
the excessive amount of ammonial or nitrogenous constitu- 
ents which are applied to the Mangolds in the shape of 
heavy dressings of dung. The same remarks apply with 



CARROTS, ^lANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



43 



equal force to the exclusive and too abundant use of Peru 
vian guano, sulphate of ammonia and nitrogenous manures 
in general. The special effect of all ammonial and nitroge- 
nous manures in general, as already stated, is to produce lux- 
uriant leaf development, to induce prolonged and vigorous 
growth, resulting in an immature and watery condition of the 
bulbs. 

Large roots, generally speaking, are far less nutritious 
than better matured roots of a moderate size. For illustra- 
tion of this fact I quote the following comparative analyses : 







71 U) 





V 


1 




c 


5 c 


u'^ 


^ 








s^l 


a-" 


fe 


j= 




^ 


§1 


3.3 


-s 


< 






• - 





3 








^U 


fS 


CJ 




Mangolds 9 lbs. 


91.85 


1-34 


2.86 


2.54 


I.4I 


71-2 lbs. 


89.48 


1.24 


3-95 


4-51 


.82 


4 lbs. 


89.77 


0-73 


7.68 


.89 


•93 


I to 2 lbs. 


86.90 


0.61 


10.51 


1.07 


.91 



Small Mangolds approach Sugar Beets in composition, 
whilst large Sugar Beets are hardly better than common 
Mangolds, and monster beets are even less nutritious than 
well-matured Mangolds of fair average size. Monster roots, 
as is well known, are always very watery, poor in sugar, and 
almost useless for feeding purposes. 

Big Berkshire beets, — one weighing 16 pounds and the 
other 12 1-4 pounds, — contained only 3.89 or 4 per cent, of 
sugar respectively, and in round numbers as much as 91 1-2 
per cent, of water. This high percentage of water is ac- 
companied by a larger amount of albuminous compounds 
and of mineral matter, than the proportions in roots, contain- 
ing very much more solid feeding matter- A large amount 
of albuminous matter and of ash, indeed indicates immatur- 
ity and poverty in sugar, a characteristic of big, excessively 
manured roots. 



44 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

^'Generally speaking, all nitrogenous manure, either 
should not be used at all, or only sparingly, for roots, on stiff- 
ish land, and all soils which contain a good deal of clay, 
are naturally cold and unfavorable to a vigorous and rapid 
growth. On the other hand, raw, or better still, dissolved 
Peruvian guano is an excellent manure for root crops upon 
light land, which, like most productive sandy soils and fria- 
ble turnip loams, favors the quick and vigorous growth of 
roots, and is conducive to early maturity. 

"Nitrate of soda has the same general effect upon root 
crops as nitrogenous manures, but it appears to be more en- 
ergetic in its action, and, on the whole, to be a useful addi- 
tion to home manures, and to increase the produce in roots 
more considerably than salts of ammonia. Its effect is spec- 
ially marked upon mangolds, and, to my knowledge, heavy 
crops of mangolds have been produced upon rather light 
land by i 1-2 per cent, of Nitrate of Soda, two cwt. of 
common salt, sown broadcast, and four cwt. of dissolved 
bones drilled in with the seed. 

"Potash salts in some field experiments which I have 
tried in different parts of the country, have shown that Pot- 
ash has a decidedly beneficial effect upon root crops, on 
poor, sandy soils ; while on the majority of land, and nota- 
bly upon clays or clay loams, or soils in a good agricultural 
condition, Salts of Potash do not increase the produce. The 
special effect of superphosphates, dissolved bones and simi- 
lar phosphatic manures, is to produce early maturity ; and 
hence phosphatic manures are employed in practice very 
largely, and with much benefit, by root growers. In free- 
growing, light soils, it is desirable either to use dissolved 
bones in addition to half dressing of farm-yard manure, as a 
manure for roots, or to spread broadcast 2 or 3 cwt. of salt, 
or 2 cwt. of guano and i cwt. of nitrate of soda and 2 cwt. of 
common salt, and to drill with the seed ^ to 4 cwt. of dis- 



CARROTS, IMANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 45 

solved bones. On the heavier description of soils it is pref- 
erable to use mineral superphosphate for roots, especially if 
the land has been dressed in Autumn with a moderate quan- 
tity of dung." 

SALT AS AN AUXILIARY MANURE. 

It will be seen by the table of analysis of roots, that the 
Mangold has in it a remarkably large percentage of Chlorine 
and Soda, the roots yielding respectively 9.9 and 18.4, while 
the tops give, 17.8 and 23.3. Salt being a combination of 
Chlorine and Soda, known to chemists as Chloride of Sodi- 
um, must therefore be a valuable auxiliary manure for Man- 
golds, that is, one to be used in connection with other ma- 
nures. Practice proves what chemistry indicates. Prof* 
Voelcker tells us that "salt tends to check over-luxuriance in 
the tops, while it prolongs the period of active growth. In 
consequence of this specific action it may be employed with 
benefit as an auxiliary manure upon light land, in quantities 
not greater than five bushels to the acre." Mr. Lewis, of 
New York, believes that by scattering over the surface, when 
the Mangolds develop the fourth leaf, four or five bushels of 
the refuse of the Syracuse salt works, which is about equal 
parts of salt and plaster, he has increased his crop ten tons 
to the acre. Mr. Lewis finds that salt tends to prevent a dis- 
ease which sometimes attacks the leaves, known as "rust. 
He states that it can be obtained at the works for about ^3.50 
per ton. Prof. Voelcker believes it would be injurious rather 
than beneficial on heavy land. 

The quantity to be applied to the acre as given by prac- 
tical growers, varies from four to twenty-five bushels. The 
effect is not always the same ; one season the increase may 
be very striking and the next, under the same application, 
not be perceptible, the cause of which is not very clear. 



46 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

though it appears to give better results in dry seasons than in 
wet. The most striking effect from tlie application of large 
quantities, in my experience, has been on the borders of 
meadow land. A number of years ago I manured in the 
furrow with refuse herring bait, salt and all, just as taken frora 
the fish barrels. The crop of Mangolds grown from this ma- 
nuring was one of the largest and smoothest I ever raised. 
The next season the land was planted to Oats. In the Fall, 
while laying a heap of this oat straw in the barn, I chanced 
to use one as a tooth-pick. It tasted as though it had been 
pickled ; thinking it was the result of some accident, I took 
another ; that also Wcis salt. This aroused my curiosity and 
on examination I found farther, to my great surprise, that 
all the straw tasted as though it had been dipped in pret- 
ty strong brine. Certainly this tremendous salting, over 
and above what the crop of Mangolds could use, to all ap- 
pearance, had not lessened the bulk of roots. On meadow 
land, Mr. Ware of this town, thinks that in a dry season he 
doubled his crop by the application of refuse salt, at the rate 
of twenty-five bushels to the acre. In purchasing waste salt 
for this or any other agricultural crop, it is best to get the 
dirtiest lot possible, for this dirt is the waste of the fish on 
which it has been used, and consists mostly of fish scales* 
which for manuring purposes is decidedly the most valuable 
part of the fish. For this reason the waste from salted her- 
ring is probably the most valuable of all. Under the open 
platforms where fish are dried, in sea-port towns, and from 
which there is always some dripping, the rankest of grass 
grows. Salt lessens the proportion of sugar in the roots. 

PLx\NTING THE SEED AND TENDING THE CROP. 

Our ground being now ready the next step is to plant it. 
How much seed shall we need and how far apart shall we 
have the rows ? From four to six pounds of seed is the us- 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 47 

iial quantity, the higher figures evidently allowing for a con- 
siderable waste, while with hand planting even the small- 
er amount may be decreased. As to the proper distance 
between the rows, practical growers will give various re- 
plies ; — 18, 20, 22, 24, 30 inches. The thirty inch men 
are those who expect to depend on the cultivator to do 
about all their weeding, and are willing to prepare and spare 
more ground, with the object of having less weeding. That 
the crop does not require so. much room to yield the great- 
est bulk, is shown by the experience of other cultivators, 
who have raised from forty to over sixty tons to the acre, 
with their rows from eighteen to twenty-two inches apart, 
while the greatest crop on record, viz. : — of over eighty tons 
to the acre, was raised with the rows twenty-four inches apart. 
Planting on ridges is often advised, but as far as I have 
observed, those who begin this way generally change to the 
system of level culture as they advance in experience. The 
only advantages I have found in the system of ridge cultiva- 
tion have been that the Mangolds appear to grow with fewer 
roots, and are rather more easily weeded. These advantages 
in practice are more than off-set by the extra labor of mak- 
ing the ridges and preparing them for planting. "' Mangold 
seed is apt to come up badly. - In France, where land is cut 
up into small areas and labor is cheap, one would expect to 
find as little waste as possible, but while traveling there I 
noted in their fields that the Mangolds were quite scattering. 
Mangold seed, like those of beets, are enclosed in a porous 
shell which itself is usually called the seed. By cracking 
these "seeds" the real seed will be found within, at the an- 
gles, from one to four in number, and when broken, if fresh, 
appear as white as flour. One reason why a portion of the 
seed fails to vegetate, is, I infer, from the quantity of mois- 
ture necessary to reach and swell the encased seed. For this 
reason, if planted during dry spells, care should be taken to 



4.H CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

get them down to a good depth, say an inch and a half deep, 
and then to pack the fine earth closely over them so that it 
may hold the moisture. Any machine, therefore, that is used 
for planting should have a good roller. To facilitate and 
hasten the vegetation, some cultivators practice soaking the 
seed, by pouring on water when almost at a scalding temper- 
ature, and letting the seed remain in it from thirty-six to for- 
ty-eight hours, being careful to keep it where the water will 
not fall below blood heat, then rolling plaster or dry soil, 
until it is sufficiently dry to drop readily from the machine. 
Some prefer to plant by hand, believing that the greater 
certainty of getting the seed up and the greater regularity of 
the plants in the row is more than an off-set to the addition- 
al labor. In doing this some growers will drop the seed on 
the surface by the machine, and then follow and push them 
under to the depth requisite, with the thumb and finger; 
others use a strip of plank about four inches wide and three 
feet in length, on the under side of which are inserted wood- 
en pins, every seven inches, the pins being one and a quar- 
ter inches in diameter and projecting two inches. The holes 
having been made, the seed are dropped in, and covered by 
the hand. In my own experience I rely on Mathew's seed 
drill, and find but few blank places after th^ plants are up, 
provided the weather is not too dry. Where blanks are found 
they may be profitably filled by transplanting the young Man- 
golds, care being taken to break off the tops of the larger 
leaves, and also to loosen the ground a little when planting 
them. If a time just after a shower is selected, the result 
will be very satisfactory. The transplanted roots when gath- 
ered in the Fall will usually be found with several small roots 
in place of a single tap root. 

'> All root crops require prompt and thorough attention in 
the matter of weeding, and to lessen this costly department 
of labor they should not be raised on land aboundin^^ in the 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 49 

seed of weeds. Mangolds will require two or three hand 
wcedings, besides as many slidings with the scuffle or wheel- 
hoe. If too thick they should be thinned rather early in 
their groAvth, for I have oftentimes noticed that if this is left 
until the roots begin to develop, those left standing are 
apt to be dwarfed. It is best to give two thinnings. The 
plants should be left from ten to twelve inches apart ; the 
crop of eighty tons was thinned to twelve inches apart, and 
as the roots are more apt to grow coarse and prongy, and 
with less sugar in them, when far apart, I am inclined to ten 
or twelve inches as far enough. The object aimed at should 
be, as Prof. Voelcker has shown, to get the weight in many 
roots of medium size rather than in fewer roots of large size. 

GATHERING AND STORING THE CROP. 

Unlike other roots, the keeping qualities of Mangolds 
are destroyed by a temperature low enough to but little more 
than freeze the surface of the ground. In the late Fall when 
the growth is about completed, these much exposed roots have 
but few leaves to protect them and hence, where freezing 
weather is feared, the provident farmer will always give them 
the benefit of the doubt. If he is so unfortunate as to have 
his crop injured, let him at once get the most he can out of 
them, in the way of food, for though the injury at first may 
appear to be but trivial, the part frozen will become first 
corky and afterwards turn black, and ultimately rot. If but 
slighdy frozen the frost may be taken out by at once cover- 
ing the roots temporarily with earth, but such roots must be 
fed early or they will rot. Where the globe or ovoid varie- 
ties are grown, on land where they pull hard they may be 
lifted by running a subsoil plough with care. In pulling 
these, or any roots that are to be topped on the field, don't 
do, as is usually done, either scatter them on the surface, 



50 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

without any system, or throw them into heaps, as in either 
way the cost of removing the tops is increased. If thrown 
in piles the tops become more or less intermingled, and the 
small amount of extra labor thereby caused in topping each 
individual root becomes great in the aggregate, when thous- 
ands are handled. Still it oftentimes happens that the weath- 
er takes a sudden, unexpected turn, threatening too low a 
temperature for the safety of the crop ; under such circum- 
stances the question is how to get it out of danger in the 
most expeditious way possible. The quickest way is to pull 
and throw into heaps, roots in, tops out, by which arrange- 
ment, should there be considerable of a freeze up, the tops 
would shield the roots. To protect them still more effectual- 
ly earth may be shovelled over the heaps, so as barely to 
cover them, and when protected in this way they may be al- 
lowed to remain quite awhile awaiting the leisure of the far- 
mer. Here let me say that this plan of protection will not 
answer for all crops, as I have learnt with Cabbages, to my 
sorrow, for when covered up this way, but for a few days, 
when taken out they will be found to be almost cooked by 
the great heat which they have developed. 

In gathering all roots the great object is to have as few 
handlings as possible, hence, if the tops are not twisted off 
as the Mangolds are pulled, they should be laid in rows, tops 
in and roots out, four or more rows being put in one. It will 
be best to have two hands work together, and so make two 
of these rows, leaving a small passage-way between them, 
the roots being on the inside. Now let the topper folio iv 
with a large and sharp knife, and lop off the leaves to his 
right and left as he goes being careful to so top the roots 
that each individual leaf will fall separately, which means 
that he is not to cut the top of the root itself, for unlike Car- 
rots, Mangolds so cut are apt to decay when stored. For 
economical work the knife should be a large and somewhat 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 5 1 

heavy one, the blade eight or nine inches in length. A small 
grit stone for the use of each of the hands engaged in top- 
ping any kind of roots is always a good investment ; it saves 
running to the barn for an occasional touch on the grind- 
stone. 

If the roots are to be marketed they will need to be left 
awhile to have the earth on them dry, that it may fall off 
when loading, but if for use on the farm it will be rather of 
an advantage, as it will help keep them from wilting. The 
portion of the crop to be fed before Spring should be stored 
as near to the place of feeding as possible. The great ob- 
ject should be to keep them sufficiently covered and cool to 
prevent walking. As all the beet family are good keepers, 
there need be but a small per cent, of loss. Store them in a 
cool, rather moist cellar, provided it has no standing water. 
The heap may be three (»r four feet in depth, and should be 
covered with earth that is rather moist than otherwise, to 
prevent evaporation. The long varieties may be piled cord- 
wood fashion. Those to be fed after Spring opens can be 
kept in a pit, dug in gravelly soil, on a hill-side, or where 
there is no danger from standing water; the pit may be 
three or four feet in depth, and be filled to the surface. In 
covering there are two methods : one, to throw the earth di- 
rectly on the roots, and the other to first cover them with 
cornstalks, or some dry, coarse litter before throwing on the 
earth. In practice I find that when the litter is used the roots 
in immediate contact with it are apt to mould, more or less, 
and be affected with a dry rot, though it is an excellent plan 
to throw over coarse litter up to severe freezing weather. 
Which ever course is pursued it is best not to throw on more 
at first than is sufficient to barely cover them, and to add 
the remainder, making a covering of about two feet in 
depth in all; to which is to be added a foot of coarse 
hay as the weather becomes cold. The process of 



52 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

thatching with straw and so piling that there shall be 
a roof-like slant to the heap, with furnace-like ventilators 
opening from it at intervals, I have never found necessary 
in actual practice, the elevation of the earth above the 
bed being a sufficieut water shed, while the cold nature of 
the root prevents heating. Rats are the great enemies of 
root pits. I have had galleries cut by these vermin through 
a bed of roots, utterly destroying them for seed purposes. 
The best way of killing them in my experience, has been to 
drop a little arsenic on buttered bread and put it convenient- 
ly near their holes, but so far hidden that no neighbors dog 
v/ould be likely to suffer by it. 

FEEDING THE CROP. 

Besides arguments which are of weight for cultivation of 
all kind of roots, there are special ones for the raising of 
Mangolds. The vast bulk of yield exceeds that of any 
annual crop, as high as eighty tons of roots having been 
raised to the acre on the sewerage farms of England, and 
when to this is added the weight of leaves that such a crop 
would carry, it will be safe to say that a hundred tons have 
been given to the acre. Taken as a whole the Mangold has 
less enemies and is less apt to fail than any other root. 
Compared with the Turnip family, it has several marked ad- 
vantages, being more reliable in dry seasons and less liable 
to disease ; and in flesh-forming, heat-giving and fat-produc- 
ing elements it surpasses it. While the Turnip family cannot 
be raised repeatedly on the same land, indeed on most soil 
can be raised only at intervals of three or four years. Man- 
golds can be raised many years in succession, as Mr. Mechi, 
the distinguished EngUsh agriculturist, has proved by raising 
sixty tons per annum on the same tract of land of six acres 
area, for six successive years. They will keep longer in good 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 53 

condition than any other root, under favorable circumstances 
even as late as July. Experiments in feeding steers made 
with care, proved that while a ton of Mangolds increased 
their weight sixty five pounds, a ton of Swede increased their 
weight but forty-eight pounds, equal quantities of hay having 
been fed in each experiment. Other experiments have es- 
tablished about the same proportionate value between these 
two roots, though the general result was not as favorable. 
Mangolds, like fruit, undergo a ripening change after they 
are gathered, and until this is effected they are not in the 
best condition for feeding. The ripening process for the 
most part consists in a change of starch into sugar, and makes 
the Mangolds both more healthful and more nutritious food. 
Before this change is effected they are apt to scour stock 
if fed to any degree liberally. The time when this chem- 
ical change takes place will depend on the degree of ripe- 
ness of the crop when stored ; and this, as has been clearly 
shown is affected by both the soil on which they grew and the 
manure with which they were fed ; other conditions equal, 
those grown on upland ripen earher than those on lowland, 
while rank manures tend to prolong the period of growth and 
crops so grown, come into condition for feeding later in the 
season. In England, a common practice is to begin feeding 
the Mangolds at Christmas, while in this country the middle 
of January is considered early enough. Experiments careful- 
ly made have proved that when fed to fattening animals they 
should follow and not precede Turnips. It is a good rule in 
feeding this as with other roots or tubers, to begin with a smal] 
quantity and gradually increase the amount up to the limit 
which the appetite of the cow, her general health and the tale 
of the milk pail indicates. Every farmer who feeds a dairy 
needs a root cutter. There are several of these in the market, 
some designed for sheep only, which cut the roots into small 
pieces, others for neat cat'de, while some manufactured by 



54 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



our Canada neighbors can be arranged to cut for either class 
of stock. As good a one as I know of for stock purposes, 
cheapness, durability and effectiveness combined, is one 
sometimes known as the Whittemore machine, of which I 
present an engraving. This machine is capable of cutting 

about two .bushels 
a minute. Exper- 
iments in England 
have shown that 59 
pounds of cooked 
Mangolds are 
equal to 70 of un- 
cooked ; but that 
meat made from 
steamed food 
wastes more when 
boiled. Leaves of 
Mangolds should 
be fed with care 
as they are more 
apt to scour than 
those of any other 
WHITTEMORE CUTTER. root. The reason 

of this is that they contain comparatively a large quantity of 
-B poisonous acid, known by chemists as "oxalic" acid, the 
same that is developed in Rhubarb leaves, when slighdy wilt- 
ed, and which sometimes causes death when such leaves are 
eaten as ''greens." 

The practice sometimes followed in Europe, of feeding 
the leaves of the growing crop, where labor is very cheap, is 
thought to pay, as the leaves are gathered just as they begin 
to drop from their upright position and when their usefulness 
as nourishers of the root have ended. But with labor as 
cheap as may be, there is no economy in this, for, aside from 




CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 55 

the deleterious effects to animals, when fed too liberally, by 
actual experiment it has been found that the wear and tear 
to the crop, incidental to the plucking of these leaves by an 
average farm hand, injures it more than the value of the 
leaves after they are gathered. 

Were it not for the enormous bulk that an acre will pro- 
duce in roots when compared with its yield in hay or grain, 
there would be a serious argument against the growing of 
them to any extent beyond what might be needed for medic- 
inal purposes, in the fact that the manure made from them 
is of so low a value ; and the practical weight of this argu- 
ment would grow in proportion as farmers acquire a knowl- 
edge of the most important department of farming. To 
most farmers a cord or load of manure of cow or horse is a 
cord or load of equal value ; now this is far, very far from 
being the fact, as will be seen by the following table which I 
take from the Scientific Fanner, compiled by the celebrated 
Mr. Lewis, who, by his careful experiments has laid the agri- 
cultural world under lasting obligation. In this table a ton 
of English hay is taken as the standard, and were all the ma- 
nure saved, both solid and liquid, from a ton of each of these 
varieties of food, the ingredients at the market value of the 
Ammonia, Potash and Phosphoric Acid would be worth as 
follows : — 

Hay, - - - - - _ ^10.00 

Clover Hay, - - - - 15.00 

Oat Straw, - - - - - 4.50 

Wheat Straw, - - - - 4.16 

Barley Straw, - - - - - 3.50 

Decorticated Cotton Seed Cake, - - - 43-33 

Linseed Cake, - - - - - 30.66 

Malt Dust, - - - • - - 28.33 

Malt, - - - - - - 10.50 



56 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

Oats, - - - ... - _ IT.50 

Wheat, . - - - . 11.00 

Indian Corn, - - - - - 10.50 

Barley, - - - - - - g^g^ 

Potatoes, - - - - - 2.33 

Mangolds, - - - - . - 1.66 

Swedes, ------ i^^x 

Turnips, (common,) - - - - 1.33 

Carrots, - - - - - -1.33 

This table is very suggestive in many ways : — by it we see 
that there are varieties of food, the manure from which is 
worth more than the cost of the food itself. In its appli- 
cation to the feeding of Mangolds, it at a glance suggests 
the wisdom of feeding at the same time a portion of some- 
thing richer and more concentrated. By so doing the qual- 
ity of the manure is vastly improved and the crops will not 
be slow to discover it. There is still another reason for 
feeding these rich foods while using roots ; it enables the 
armer to feed with profit his straw or inferior varieties of 
hay. Says Prof. Stockhardt, "the full benefit to animals de- 
rivable from feeding roots is secured only when the pro- 
per proportion of substances rich in nitrogen are fed with 
them ; accordingly, about two pounds of oil-cake should be 
fed with each hundred pounds of beet root, or other foods 
may be substituted in the same proportion as they are rich 
in nitrogen." 

Recent researches have determined a fact of great value 
to agriculture ; that to get the most profitable results from 
food the Albuminoid and Carbohydrate elements should 
bear a certain proportion to each other, and that while a de- 
crease in either of them from this proper proportion means 
insufficient food, and a consequent loss of iiesh, fat or milk, 
an excess of either means money wasted. The j^roportion 
for cows that are dry and oxen when not at work, is about. 



CARROTS, MANGOIJ3S AND SUGAR BEETS. 



57 



one of Albuminoids to eight of Carbohydrates ; for oxen at 
work and cows in milk, one of Albuminoids to from four to 
six of Carbohydrates. 

The following table taken from Prof. Johnson's excellent 
work, *'How Crops Grow," gives the proportion of the Albu- 
minoids, Carbohydrates and other elements in roots and 
tubers. 









-^ 




ij 




o ^• 




o 


>, ' 


J3 




to rs 


1 


1 




i 



ROOTS AND TUBERS. 



POTATO. 

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 

KOHL-RABI. 

FIELD BEETS, (3 lbs. weight). 

SUGAR BEETS, (i to 2 lbs.) 

RUTA BAGAS, (about 3 lbs.) 

CARROT, (about 1-2 lb.) 

GIANT CARROT, (i to 2 lbs.) 

TURNIPS. 

PARSNIP. 

PUMPKIN. 






»4.. 


0.9 2 





21.0 




.0 


,8. 


I.I 2 





15.6 




.0 


10.8 


12 2 


3 


7.3 




.0 


II. I 


0.9 I 


I 


9.1 




5 


17.7 


0.8 I 





15-4 




.0 


12.0 


i.o 1 


6 


9-3 




.0 


14.0 


I.O I 


5 


10.8 




.0 


12.2 


0.8 I 


2 


9.8 




.0 


7-2 


0.8 I 


I 


5-1 




•3 


11. 


0.7 I 


6 


8.4 




•S 


4-5 


1.0 I 


3 


2.8 





To give the tables necessary to develop this interesting 
subject to its full capacity, would be altogether beyond the 
scope of my little treatise. I will refer my readers to the 
appendix of that excellent work by Prof. Johnson, *'How 
Crops Grow." 



THE COST OF THE CROP. 

An average crop of Mangolds ma}' be set down at 22 
tons. To grow this crop would cost the farmer who depends 
on barn manure mainly, about as follows : — 



, g CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR ]]EETS. 

DEBTOR. 

Ploughing twice, harrowing and dragging, - - ^9.00 

Seed, — 4 lbs., - - - - - 3.00 

Planting, _ - - - - . i_oo 

Sliding, weeding and thinning crop, - - 16.00 

Gathering, topping and storing, - - - 12.00 

Manure, and handling of 7 cords, - - 56.00 

Refuse salt, 16 bushels, at ^1.25 per hogshead, - 2.50 
Interest, taxes and wear and tear of implements and 

teams, ----- 15.00 



Total cost, ;^ 1 14.50 



CREDITOR. 



By crop of 22 tons roots, at ^8.50 per ton, - $187.00 
^* tops, — 4 tons, at $5.00, - - - 20.00 

'" value of manure left in soil, - - . 14.00 



$221.00 
114.50 



Balance, $106.50 

In the above estimate I have assumed most of the labor 
to be by boys, who at hand weeding, if they are reliable, 
can get over the ground faster than men. I have made no 
allowance for the cost of cutting up the roots when feeding, 
as this does not belong under this head. Should the land be 
old the item of weeding would have to be increased one-half. 
The salt I have priced at its cost along the. sea-coast. I 
have estimated the value of the crop at the average value of 
several years past, while the manure charge is much higher 
than it should be where farmers have access to the fertiliz- 
ing wastes of great cities. 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 50 

Now^ if instead of being contented with a crop of. 22 tons 
to the acre, the farmer strives for double that quantity, he 
will get it by additional expense in but two directions, viz. : 
his manure bill and the cost of gathering and storing. If 
we now double the cost of each of the latter, and credit the 
results with double the crop, which every practical farmer 
who has had experience in root culture will allow is but rea- 
sonable, we shall have the following results : — ■ 

Extra cost of crop of 44 tons over one of 22 : 
Manure, — 7 cords, - - - _ ^56.00 

Gathering, topping and storing, - - - 12.00 



^68.00 



Now adding the credit side we shall have for 

Extra 22 tons roots, - - - ^187.00 

6 tons tops, - - - - - 30.00 

Value of manure left in ground, - - - 1^.00 

^231.00 
Deduct extra cost, 68.00 



Profits cleared, ^163.00 

In other words, by investing ^68.00 for six months, we 
clear $163.00, Y*-hich, as any farmer boy can figure, is at the 
rate of about five hundred per cent, a year. Mr. Fearing of 
Hingham, with the same amount of manure raised over sixty 
tons to the acre, and the instances are numerous where over 
forty tons have been the crop when even a less quantity has 
been used. Can any farmer who has accumulated a small sur- 
plus of money do better than invest it in manure ? There is 
altogether too much money, for the prosperity of their farm- 
ing, invested by farmers in Savings Banks.' These banks pay 
from six to seven per cent, on money, but here is an instance 
where an investment made in manure pays over four hundred 



6o CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 

per cent. Merchants don't do so foolish a thing as to put 
their earnings into Savings Banks. No ; they invest in their 
business and so keep it and its money making capacity un- 
der their own control ; when will farmers be as wise and be- 
come their own bankers? Let me remark that the farmer 
who is so wise as to attempt to get t^e most from his 
land will do well to follow Prof. Voelcker's advice and drill 
in four or five hundred weight of some good phosphate, to 
the acre, in place of the same value in stable manure. 

In the above estimates of the. value of Mangolds we have 
assumed that the farmer sold his crop. Now it is true of this 
as of every other crop that the farmer can use on his pre- 
mises, that it is of more value to him than the general market 
price indicates. 

Under this head an intelligent farmer of large experi- 
ence writes : — 

"From experiments made in feeding beets, their practi- 
cal value has been made to range from 13 to 20 cents per 
bushel, with hay at twenty dollars per ton. An exact esti- 
mate of the practical value of beets for cattle food, is a dif- 
ficult matter, as it is now, and ever will be, hid from mortal 
ken. The improved condition of the cow, (when fed to 
cows during the winter,) her increased usefulness during the 
entire season, her lessened hability to sickness and disease 
which high feeding with any one of the different kinds of 
grain induces, her lengthened lease of life, her evident satis- 
faction and perfect contentment, which is so plainly mani- 
fested while eating her daily ration of roots, are each and 
every one legitimate items to be taken into the account in 
estimating the practical, the actual value of beets as food 
for dairy stock. 

"After carefully looking at the subject in all its bear- 
ings, so far as my experience has given me opportunity to 
do so, I have come to the conclusion that beets for cattle 



CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 6 1 

food are well worth fully as many cents per bushel as good 
hay is worth dollars per ton, without taking into considera- 
tion the increase of the manure ; and that the average cost, 
when stored in the cellar or put into pits, with every item of 
expense included, need not exceed eight cents per bushel." 
I will close my little treatise by remarking that while I 
cannot expect to have exhausted so prolific a subject, yet I 
hope and trust that it may prove of value as a guide and a 
stimulus to some of my many friends in the great community 
of farmers. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

The Argument for the Raising of Roots, - 3 

THE CARROT . - - - 5 

The Location and Soil _ _ - 6 

The Manure and its Application - - 7 

Preparing the Bed - - - - 12 

When to Plant - - - - 13 

The Seed and the Planting of it - - 14 

Quantity to the Kox^ - - - 15 

Varieties, and What Kinds to Grow - - 17 

Early Very Short Scarlet - - 19 

Early Short Scarlet Horn - - 19 

Short Horn - - - - 19 

Danvers Carrot - - - - 19 

Long Orange, or Long Surry - - 20 

Altringham - - - - 21 

Large White Belgian - - - 21 

The Cultivation, and the Impliments needed - 22 

Gathering and Storing the Crop - - 24 

Raising Carrots with Onions - - - 27 

Marketing and Feeding - - - 28 

THE MANGOLD WURTZELS - - 30 

Varieties - - - - - 32. 



The Long Varieties - - - - 

The Round Varieties - - - 

The Ovoid Varieties - - - - 

What Kinds to Grow - - - - 

The Soil and its Preparation - - - 36 

The Manure and its AppHcation - - 37 

Salt as an Auxiliary Manure - - - 4c 

Planting the Seed and Tending the Crop - 46 

Gathering and Storing the Crop 

Feeding the Crop - 

The Cost of the Crop 



32 
33 
33 
33 



49 

52 
57 



ONION RAISING. 



WHAT KINDS TO RAISE AND THE 
WAY TO RAISE THEM. 



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tlit'oii^ll foiii'teeq editioi^^. 



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